First Serious Effort for Astrophoto

[Saj]

So last weekend i went out and made my first attempt at some serious astrophoto. Drove 40 mins out of town and got these two. Im looking for some serious opinions concidering the following:

a. My first serious attempt
b. My reticle piece is still on it's way
c. Self guided with standard eyepiece
d. I realize that i need to raise the camera when using a 28mm lens so the scope isn't in the image.

I'm really happy with the outcomes so far. Especially the image of Cassiopeia. I'm sure i can even make out the double cluster bordering Perseus. There is heavy vignetting in the Ursa Major shot which isn't so apparent in the other. Beats me why this happened but non the less i will be closing my aperture a stop or two in the future.

Like i said, drop any comments that come to mind. They would be much appreciated.

Cheers,
Saj.




Minolta SRT200
28mm lens
2.8f
15mins exposures
Kodak Gold 200IS0 film

[hpcoolahan]

Nice first go mate.:tongue:

I think the Cassiopeia one has also captured some Auroa in the lower half of the field, brilliant.

Focus is a little soft , but its hard to get focus through a cameras viewscreen ,i know:wink:

Well done.
Patrick

ps..Radars the expert using film cameras, he might have some tips on focusing for you!!

[Radar]

Nice first effort Saj.

With focusing for widefield work, all you need to do is set the focus to the infinity setting on the lens. You do not need to look through the viewfinder for focusing, only framing.

Kodak gold has picked up some nice red nebulosity in the first image.

Vignetting is definitely caused by your F-Stop.

When shooting with film, always make notes, so that when you finally get the film developed you'll know what's working and what's not.

When getting your film developed, always tell the lab to not make any adjustments to the final prints. You can always get raw prints and adjusted prints done, but I think it's always better to do the adjustments yourself.

Make sure the lab doesn't cut your negatives either. Most labs can't see anything on astrophoto's because they are too dark, and you'll end up them cutting straight through the middle of one of your images.

Once you start guiding, you'll be able to go for longer, 45 minutes upwards. Your photo's will see a huge improvement once guiding starts, but for now, these are great. Get as much practice as possible.

What mount was the camera on?

Ray

P.S Start practising your polar alignment as well, because unlike CCD or DSLR, we can't take lots of little exposures and then make up for bad polar alignment with alignment software. With film, it's one huge exposure, which means field rotation will set in, so polar alignment has to be perfect, and this alignment has to be done in the field.

[Saj]

Thanks guys. Good eye hpcoolahan. The auroras were just starting to present themselves after i got set up. I wasn't sure how they would have affected the image, but it's a sure way to find out.

I definitely intend to extend my exposures up to anywhere near at least 45 mins next time. Since i had no experience and this was my first go, i thought 15 mins would suffice in giving me an idea as to what i can pull off with my get up. Understandably these shots were very forgiving being wide angles and any mal-alignments will be more prominent the more i sharpen the field of view. That will be my next lesson.

As far as mount goes Ray, im using Orions Sirius which seems to track really well, (in familiar turf such as my back yard anyhow). I've occassionally pegged a prominent star at high magnification and left the scope tracking for hours while i rested in the house to come back and find that same star in the eyepiece if not exactly in the center where i left. So i have high hopes for longer exposures at dark sites with my cross hair EP.

[Radar]

As far as mount goes Ray, im using Orions Sirius which seems to track really well, (in familiar turf such as my back yard anyhow). I've occassionally pegged a prominent star at high magnification and left the scope tracking for hours while i rested in the house to come back and find that same star in the eyepiece if not exactly in the center where i left. So i have high hopes for longer exposures at dark sites with my cross hair EP.

That's good news Saj. Mount accuracy is so important, sounds like this one could do the job.

Ray

[Tenacious Del]

not bad considering no guiding was done.